They’re the engineering firm responsible for getting you out of T.F. Green Airport quicker and eventually will get you into Providence Place mall easier. They also had a hand in bringing convenience to the convention center, the Fidelity Office Park and Stop & Shop supermarkets.
Vanasse, Hangen, Brustlin,Inc. (VHB) are proud of those examples of how they get Rhode Islanders in and out on time, but there’s a project that stresses simply getting you out: outside that is.
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VHB is the engineering firm delicately stringing New England’s largest bicycle path through 23 miles of land across the Blackstone Valley. The Watertown, Massachusetts-based company, with offices in Providence, has a specialty not many people think of when considering engineering.
“It’s not rocket science engineering. It’s mostly about coordinating a great deal of activities,” said William J. DeSantis of VHB. “We are coordinating the design engineering, wetland issues, hazardous material issues, historic preservation and public relations to name a few.”
DeSantis is the senior project manager for the Blackstone River Bikeway, a $20 million trail that will run through seven towns from Providence to the state line in North Smithfield. The trail eventually will link with the East Providence bicycle path and a path in Massachusetts that will snake all the way up to Worcester.
The Providence office of VHB is one of 11 offices in New England, Virginia and Florida. The company is celebrating their 20th year in business.
DeSantis and his crew of engineers at the Broadway office — the former St. Mary’s Convent — have found a niche in the trail business. Along with the Blackstone River project they have worked on the South County bicycle path as well as paths in southeastern Massachusetts, including those in Swansea, Mansfield, Taunton and Mattapoisett.
Thomas Lucivero, office manager for VHB’s Providence office, said it’s an interesting specialty that most large firms don’t fully appreciate.
“But by no means is this all we do. We have a reputation for working on major, large scale projects,” he said. The Washington Bridge project was theirs as was the recent traffic improvements on Post Road and designs for the Rhode Island Convention Center. In the works is a giant luxury apartment complex in Capital Center and creating highway ramps to Providence Place.
However, when they are not working on geometric challenges like those, they hit the trails for other complex challenges.
The Blackstone River project for instance had them making pavement look like dirt and creating a safe place for snapping turtle eggs.
“There are obvious historical and environmental issues that you come across on a project like this that you might not normally,” DeSantis said. During the Blackstone River project, now in its sixth year of work with at least two or three years left, the engineer has been working closely with historical preservation officials because the area encompassing the project has been designated a national historic corridor.
“One issue that came up was that the preservation people did not like the idea of having black asphalt running through the corridor,” he explained. “So we had to come up with a coating with very fine stone that looked like dirt and was also very durable.”
Then there were environmental considerations like eliminating the space used by the snapping turtle to leave its eggs along the river. Normally when engineers want to stay out of wetlands they build a wall separating the project from the wetlands. In this case, a wall would keep the turtles from finding a proper place for the eggs.
“They needed an area for the eggs that had sandy soil and sunlight to keep the eggs warm,” he said. “We came up with some new technology to allow them to come up, cross the bike path, go under a fence and then do their stuff.”
Keeping the turtles happy is often much easier than making the other inhabitants along a project happy.
While many residents on just about all bicycle path projects initially think that the path will mean an increase in crime, a decrease in property values and an overall detriment to the community, they usually change their mind.
DeSantis said for instance a recent survey of the East Bay path showed that many people using the path live nearby.
“When I meet with residents in opposition I like to bring with me real estate ads from Barrington, for example, that mention the home is close to the bike path,” he said. “If being next a bike path is so bad then why are these real estate agents advertising it in the newspaper.”
